Scholars and museum staff from home and abroad are meeting at a three-day forum in Taiwan to share strategies on making the institutions more inclusive, highlighting the country’s efforts to ensure everyone has equal access to cultural resources.
Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, the symposium Cultural Accessibility in Asia: New Trends in Museum Education is taking place Nov. 14-15 at National Museum of Taiwan History in the southern city of Tainan and the following day at National Human Rights Museum in New Taipei City.
Discussions focus on ways to make museums more welcoming and accessible for a wider range of people including children, seniors and those with mental and physical disabilities.
Local speakers and attendees from Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea are exchanging experiences and ideas on fostering cultural equity. The concept argues for all people—including those historically underrepresented based on factors like disability, gender and socioeconomic status—to be represented in cultural policies, practices and resource distribution.
NMTH Director Lin Chung-hsi said the forum will bring new ideas to promote cultural equity among museums in Asia. He added his museum is promoting equal cultural rights by offering friendlier facilities and launching educational programs aimed at more diversified groups.
The institution has audio and hand gesture guides for visitors who are visually and hearing-impaired, easy-to-read brochures and videos for mentally disabled persons and customized tours for sufferers of Alzheimer’s disease.
In addition to the forum, participants visited an exhibition Nov. 14 at the museum co-organized by the nonprofit Catholic Luway Opportunity Center. On display were paintings and photographs by mentally and physically impaired young adults, some of whom are also training to be guides. (CPY-E)
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